Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-08-11
FAsclNATIoNs OF THE DRUG.
The Squalor and Misery Seen by Jour-
nalist-A Mistake Corrected.

The SqualOr and Misery Seen by Jour-
nalist-A Mistake Corrected.
made tour of all the opium places in
New York once, accompanied by a celebrated
authority on the opium habit, and a man
who had large practice among slaves of the
drug. We had one of the shrewdest detec-
tives from the central Office with u.s. What
my two companions did not know about the
opium habit in New York was not worth
knowing. We spent three nights on the
tour. 1t was a continual succession of re-
voting pictures, a nightmare of sitting
odOrs and an unbroken series of ghastly, I'M
pleasant pictures. 1t was an experience 1
shall never forget, for it had IN it more
squalor, misery and beastliness than I ever
expect to see again. We searched in vain for
the magnificent "dives" upholstered with
oriental magnifcence, furnished with superb
Chinese divans, lighted in grotesque and
beautiful lamps, made soft and noiseless by
rich rugs and managed by soft footed and
moon eyed Celestials, about which so much
has been written, and where it is said the
society ladies of New York give themselves
over to the fascinations of the awful drug
The most pretentious place that | saw during
the tour was in the sub-cellar of a Sixth
avenue house. The floor was carpeted, and
that is why it stood out in such striking mag
nificence and splendor, as compared with
other places. The couches were rough wooden
hunks, the ceiling low, begrimed and sooty
and the lack Of cleanliness something awful.
1t was about l o'clock i'll the morning. A
single light burned in the center Of the square
room and the women lay i'll the hunks around
the four sides. All of them had their gowns
loosened at the throat, and they lay in posi-
tions of absolute langour and Indifference.
Some had rolled over ON their backs some
Law heavily on their faces and others were
twisted up awkwardly in corners. Only two
of them were what might be called deceutly
clad They wore the flash jewelry and gaudy
clothes of women Of the town. 1t was said
that this place had the best class of smokers
of any in New York, and we went back in
the afternoon-the detectives and Ito have
O look at more of them. We found women
who were better dressed than tho ones we saw
that night, and among them was q rather
well known actress and two women who
drive magnificent horses and make a great
show about town. They were all half dead
ened by the drug, and as the Chinaman took
his light around and flashed it in their faces
q few of them opened their eyes. He evil
IDENTIFY considered them great swells, and
even the detectives were more OF less i'm
pressed by the gorgeous attire of several Of
tho devotees of the habit, but it needed only
a glance to show that not woman among
them had the faintest right to the title lady
nor the least claim to respectability
New York wonderland New York ladies,
too, for that matter-have enough sins and
indiscretions and wild escapades to answer
for without saddling on them the odium of
establishing regal and magnificent clubs and
palaces for the qualification of their curious
passions.-Blakely Halls New York Letter